Objective:

This paper tries to study the relationship between the prevalence of multiple chemical sensitivities (MSC) and the fact of being allergic, asthmatic or having atopic skin.

Introduction:

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is an acquired disease of unknown etiology. It is characterized by the development of sensitivity to certain chemical agents.

Method:

Two groups of university workers were selected for this purpose; university researchers from chemical laboratories and university office workers (with no occupational exposition to chemical agents). Both of them work at the same universities and suffer from the same exposition to the rest of the environmental pollution agents coming from the area and those pollution agents coming from the building construction. In order to determine the MCS prevalence, the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) was used (sensitivity of 92% /specificity of 95%). The subjects with atopic skin, allergies or asthma were selected among those medically diagnosed and treated in the last ten years.

Results:

The results show that the workers with atopic skin (that is, the laboratory studied group and the office workers) display greater prevalence of MCS than the rest among the population studied. However, there were different results coming from workers with allergies or asthma.

Discussion:

This outcome indicates that there is a possible relation between the etiology of the MCS syndrome and the mechanisms that generate the atopic skin. However, being allergic or asthmatic doesn’t have any relation with the prevalence of MCS, even though people who suffer from allergy or asthma have greater prevalence of atopic skin. Therefore, the results refute the association between the mechanism of allergenic sensitivity and the etiology of MCS.